Previously automatic stick conveyors incorporated a stick un-loading area. The sticks were un-loaded onto a chain conveyor by a transportable stick bunk. The stick bunk was typically placed by a forklift on to the top of a hoist raised above the stick conveyor. The hoist was then lowered and the sticks set down onto the chain conveyor. Once the bunk was lowered completely below the conveyor, the conveyor began to move the sticks to an unscrambler. The unscrambler separated the sticks into a mat of adjacent sticks lying on their sides. The mat was then translated to a stick allocator. The allocator separated and allocated the sticks for timed and sequenced delivery to an automatic stick placer.
In this form of prior art system, the sticks often arrived bunched up at the unscrambler and needed to be manually prodded and straightened for even delivery to the allocator by the stick unscrambler.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to produce a stick metering apparatus wherein the delivery of sticks is automatically controlled on the stick transfer for even delivery of sticks to the stick unscrambler.
It is another object of the invention to produce a stick transfer metering apparatus that can be retrofitted to existing stick transferring systems.